Modern telecommunications system typically utilize digitally encoded data instead of analog data. If analog data is used, it may be converted to digital data for the purposes of switching the data between conducting media. Switching of data occurs at large telecommunications switches, which may receive and process hundreds or thousands of data channels.
To improve switching reliability, two or more redundant planes of data may used. In the event that one of the planes is interrupted or corrupted, one of the remaining planes of data may be used. In this manner, the transmission of data may continue without interruption.
Despite the known practice of using two or more redundant planes of data to improve switching reliability, data may still be lost when a transfer is made between redundant planes. In particular, known redundant data plane schemes for switches may be designed to maintain overall system reliability while tolerating some loss of data. Although such switching schemes may be an improvement over switches that lack redundant data planes, those switching schemes still result in the unavoidable loss of data.